1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method, apparatus and system for anonymously providing medical data for humans including infectious status.
More particularly, the present invention relates to anonymously providing infectious status data for humans via unforgeable correlation characteristics.
In a further and more specific aspect, the instant invention concerns a method and apparatus for voluntarily and anonymously providing infectious status data for humans and allowing the subject to share that information with a chosen associate or associates.
2. Prior Art
Medical data collection, storage and display systems of great variety in construction and purpose are often employed for medical and non-medical purposes. Examples include the systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,912 entitled "Medical Image Filing Apparatus", issued to Ichikawa, hereby incorporated herein by reference, directed to a medical image filing and display system and the like.
Another example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,541 entitled "Health Examination Method And System Using Plural Self-Test Stations And A Magnetic Card", issued to Hatsuwi, hereby incorporated herein by reference. This patent is directed to a system for storing medical data on magnetic media contained on a card, wherein the patient provides samples and the like to a variety of testing stations that also record the self-test data on the card.
A further example is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,294 entitled "Medical Privacy System", issued to Keene, hereby incorporated herein by reference. This patent describes a system and method for retrieving medical data from a database and sharing these medical data voluntarily with another party while protecting against unauthorized access by unauthorized parties.
A feature common to such systems is a means for identifying a particular patient or client and the associated, relevant medical records.
Human disease status is highly confidential information subject to misuse by any of a variety of agencies or individuals. For example, many doctors will advise patients not to seek human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing via the doctor because the records generated in the process of testing for HIV may be used by insurance companies to deny insurance coverage to the individual requesting the test results.
The reasoning seems to be that if the individual sought to ascertain HIV status information, the individual must have reason to suspect a positive HIV status. The individual therefore is adjudged likely (i) to have engaged in high-risk behavior, (ii) to continue to engage in high-risk behavior and (iii) to have an enhanced probability (compared to other population segments) of developing (a) HIV-positive status and (b) later, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), presently an almost invariably fatal condition. People may well be denied employment if it is suspected that they are at risk of developing an HIV-positive status or of contracting AIDS subsequent to infection by HIV.
Accordingly, it is desirable, particularly with respect to HIV testing, to be tested in a way that completely protects the individual identity of the test subject. One such system is provided in some states through Planned Parenthood, which (i) collects a blood sample from the test subject and (ii) collects whatever identifying indicia the test subject cares to provide, such as a pseudonym. The agency typically then (iii) links the identifying indicia, the test sample and a unique identifying code or serial number in a computer database or other log and (iv) informs the test subject that test results are to be expected to be available following a set interval of one to two weeks, which interval is for shipping the test sample to a suitable laboratory or other testing facility and receiving the results of the analysis therefrom.
The test sample and code or serial number are then (v) sent to a remote site for testing and analysis. Results are then (vi) sent back to the test site (or any other designated place). The test subject (vii) returns to the test site or goes to a designated office and (viii) is advised of the test results. If warranted, (ix) appropriate counseling is provided along with follow-up services. Additionally, (x) a paper record is often provided with an indication of the test results.
Unfortunately, because the test subject often provides a pseudonym, a third party has no way of knowing that a particular record is actually the product of a test conducted on samples provided by the individual presenting such a record. Moreover, the paper record is easily forged or mutilated to alter the information contained thereon, in part because there is no standard or unforgeable format for such records. In short, this system affords an individual test subject great confidence in both the anonymity and the trustworthiness of the test result, but this system does not provide the test subject with any verifiable way of providing the test results to a third party. Additionally, recent multiple-drug therapies can reduce presence of HIV and indicia of HIV to immeasurably low levels but these therapies introduce detectable levels of drugs into the bloodstream of the test subject.
Further, the situations in which people might meet and desire to know or communicate to each other the status of one another do not lend themselves to accessing of data during the course of normal business hours. Social settings in which persons might meet and form a mutual desire for sexual activity tend to be focused on hours other than normal business hours, for example, in the evening at a nightclub. If there were a method for reliably and anonymously exchanging information such as indicia of HIV-negative status and the date on which the sample providing this result was collected, it would need to be useful in such settings or in conjunction therewith in order to be effective in controlling the spread of this deadly disease.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide reliable data on health and/or infectious status in an anonymous fashion whereby the person viewing the data has some assurance that the data correspond to the individual with whom they are considering carrying out such activities. However, this alone is not necessarily sufficient because it is desirable to be able to have access to the data on a twenty-four-hour-a-day basis, and also because identification cards and the like may not correspond to the bearer thereof. Therefore, it is appropriate and useful to base the correlation process on parameters unique to the individual whilst continuing to ensure anonymity of the test subject, the test results and the fact that the test subject had the testing performed.
In order to combat these varied problems, some form of correlation that is unique to the individual, that is not based on a photograph or the like of the individual and that does not employ a transferable or forgeable identity device (such as an identity card) is required. The form of correlation needs to be highly reliable and also must operate rapidly in real time to provide "go-no go" identification in a short period of time (e.g., a minute or less).
While the various mentioned prior art devices function as apparatus for collecting, storing and retrieving human medical data, certain inherent deficiencies preclude adequate, satisfactory performance of the purpose of reducing risk of exposure of the individual identities of persons using the system.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in anonymous human health data collection and retrieval.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved method and apparatus for anonymously providing human health data in a secure and tamper-free fashion that allows a person to share those data with another party.
An additional object of the instant invention is the provision of an improved method and apparatus for providing human health data in a way that allows another party to have great confidence that the data provided are reliable and that they correspond to the party rendering the data available to them.
Still a further additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved method, apparatus and system for anonymously collecting human health data and allowing retrieval of the data in a secure fashion that permits twenty-four hour access thereto.
And another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method, apparatus and system for collecting, storing and retrieving human health data in an anonymous fashion that does not rely on forgeable identification devices.
Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a method, system and apparatus for displaying and sharing human health data with a chosen person or people.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide a method, system and apparatus for retrieving human health data in a secure fashion that also provides a high degree of confidence in the test subject of the anonymity of the test subject.
Yet still another object of the instant invention is the provision of a method, system and apparatus for identifying individuals free of HIV indicia in a reliable and anonymous fashion in order to stem the spread of a presently almost invariably fatal disease.
And a further object of the invention is to provide a method, system and apparatus for identifying individuals who are free of HIV indicia and/or indicia of recreational drug usage without risk of compromising the individual's identity.
Still a further object of the immediate invention is the provision of a method, apparatus and system for collecting, storing and retrieving human health data in a secure and tamper-free fashion that also guarantees that the individual retrieving the data is also the individual to whom the human health data are pertinent.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a new system and method for anonymously testing for human HIV status and/or antigens or antibodies for human diseases and/or drug levels of therapeutic drugs known to be used in treatment of infectious diseases and/or drug levels of "recreational" drugs.
And still a further object of the invention is the provision of method and apparatus, according to the foregoing, which is intended to allow rapid, real-time access to human health data while preserving the anonymity of the test subject and also providing any other party with whom the test subject chooses to share the data great confidence that the data apply to the test subject.